Unc points out the fantasies believed by the people who apparently think the economy is kept afloat the same way you bring Tinkerbell back to life: By wishing really hard and clapping a lot.
The real nation debt, if the government had to keep its books the way real people and businesses do, would be a number so big you couldn't say it without sounding like a bad Cosmos spoof; it has to be measured in kiloSagans. If you put enough hundred-dollar bills to pay it in one place, the pile would be so massive that it would collapse into a singularity and open a wormhole into an alternate universe where Keynes was right. At this point, that might be the only viable strategy left to the Treasury.
.
Gee, I was looking for a number on how high that stack of $100 bills would be - all the way to the Moon? The Sun?
ReplyDeleteMerle
That was real?
ReplyDeleteGood grief, they are all delusional.
Shootin' Buddy
We are so screwed.
ReplyDeleteSo...if the Treasury issues "credit" to purchase the "bonds" it issues...
ReplyDeleteIck.
It's like trying to divide by zero and complaining the calculator doesn't work.
I love how the Stupid Party claims they're going to "get serious" after the next election.
I'm tired of voting for the lesser of two Evils. Or the lesser of two Weasels. All we have now in office is Evil Weasels...except for My Guy. Who is as pure as the driven snow...and must be, due to incumbent reelection rates.
What? No Secret Code today to mock?
The Zimbabwe government thought they could print limitless money too, and so did the Weimar Republic. It works until 'the full faith and credit' of the government is found to be an empty promise, then everything falls apart.
ReplyDeleteI love 'kiloSagans', it is a great term, Tam. I wish I had your gift with words.
Al_in_Ottawa
I watched the video and found myself sitting in a stunned silence afterwards.
ReplyDeleteCorey
$100 trillion (the approximate debt plus unfunded liabilities) in $100 bills would be about a million tons, and be a cube about 100 meters on a side.
ReplyDeleteIf in a single stack, it would be 100,000 km tall, or about 1/4 of the way to the moon.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"kiloSagans",heh
ReplyDelete"We are so screwed."
ReplyDeleteOn this all right thinking individuals agree.
There are varying disagreements on if it's by malice, incompetence or both.
He used hip graphics, it must be true!
ReplyDeleteGerry
Why, there are any number of ways to get past the national debt.
ReplyDeleteI thought John Dalmas' (The General's President) was inventive -- two Constitutional amendments. The first repudiates the national debt, the second abolishes the government's ability to levy taxes.
Then there is Kathleen McHugh's approach (China Mountain Zhang), where China collects it's debts and just assumes possession and control of the US.
The KGB posited that California and New York state would get so broke, they seize collected federal tax revenue -- launching a segmentation of the US into regions essentially controlled by various disparate countries.
Reagan, the first President accused of Voodoo economics, set out to limit who could get welfare, and for how long, and getting people from welfare to (taxpaying) work. The Voodoo part, or "trickle down" economics posited that if people were going to work, then government had to fix what was crippling current and potential employers. That is, make business work, and workers and their families would get more money and security. I consider the strongest accolade of the Clinton era, was that he left everything that reversed the Carter economic fiasco (Obama's apparent mentor), in place, right up until the last six months of Clinton's presidency.
I wonder if the next Executive Order won't be to sell the US to Kenya, without making anyone liable for the debt. I mean, if one can buy a Senate seat, why not sell an Oval Office?
(At least I'm not bitter. Grrh. And I still want to see a Federal budget limited to last year's collected revenue, not number games about the next ten years.)
Pakkinpoppa said...
ReplyDeleteI'm tired of voting for the lesser of two Evils. Or the lesser of two Weasels.
Pakkinpoppa - Everyone knows that you should always pick the lesser of two weevils.
BSR,
Master & Commander
Currently reading Bill Quick's new book "Lightning Fall". It presents an interesting and almost plausible scenario for erasing debt with hyperinflation, prior to starting a new currency. It is portrayed as an intentional policy of the government.
ReplyDeleteThe book is not bad so far. Not as plausible as some disaster novels, but readable. Gross out warning, though, for a romantic interlude between the female president and her former president husband.
rremington:
ReplyDeleteBuy precious metals.
If you have a 401k, borrow against it, buy physical metal, and then make minimum payments until you can take distributions, or pay the loan off with the price of a cup of coffee.
Borrowing against your 401k and investing in physical metal is a tax-free way of preventing a future forced rollover of 401ks into that MyRA abortion Obama is pimping.
( corrected fact error: You can't borrow against IRAs, only 401ks. To get out from under IRAs, you have to just eat the 10% penalty and tax hit )
Fast Richard, there is NO plausible scenario for erasing debt with hyperinflation and starting over with a new currency, without a lot of pain and suffering first. Your new currency would be worth less than toilet paper, and only useful for the same purpose unless other countries are willing to play along with your scheme. In that one aspect, I think that both James Rawles (Patriots) and Adam Ferguson (When Money Dies) have it right when they talk about what may happen when a currency collapses.
ReplyDeleteI always want to ask the "we can print money, so no problem" people what is the purpose, that being the case, of levying and collecting taxes.
ReplyDelete